Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 06 23 Yama [10 of 45]
The frescoes were of the highest quality we had ever seen in or outside Tibet. They covered the walls from the dado (about two and three quarter feet from the floor) right up to the high ceiling. They were lavishly encrusted with gold and minutely executed, even in the darkest corners or high up beyond the normal reach of human sight, and even behind the big statues. - Lama Anagarika Govinda: The Way of the White Clouds. To the right of the Vajrapani statue is my personal favourite painting at Tholing and Tsaparang, an exceptionally beautiful painting of blue Yama (Tib. Shinje) riding a water buffalo. Yama is nude, has a buffalo head, wears a garland of human skulls, has an ornament shaped like a wheel on his breast, his right hand holds a club to smash obstacles, and his left hand holds a loop of rope in his left hand with which he pulls the soul from the corpse. Photo - Kazuyoshi Nomachi: Tibet.